Bond Issuance Fell In July

Futures are hovering around neutral levels in South Korea, 3-Year future is up 3 ticks at 110.33, the 10-Year is down 5 ticks to 127.84.

• South Korea reported 2,223 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, a fresh all time record high. Elsewhere data earlier showed the adjusted jobless rate fell to 3.3% against estimates of 3.8%. The gain in jobs denotes the fifth straight month, though the pace of growth did slow as employment in face-to-face service segments was hit hard by the fourth wave of the pandemic. Other data showed exports rose 46.4% Y/Y in the first 10 days of August on the back of robust demand for chips and petroleum products.
• Bond issuance in South Korea fell sharply in July from the previous month despite continued foreign buying, according to figures from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The value of bonds sold fell KRW 21.8 trillion M/M, the fall is a contrast with the increase of KRW 18.2 trillion in June. Sales of corporate bonds dropped by KRW 6.7 trillion with the issuance of state bonds decreasing by KRW 7.7 trillion. Foreign investors bought a net KRW13 trillion with holdings of local bonds hitting an all-time high. In July vale of outstanding bonds was up KRW 18.8 trillion from the prior month.